My Story

I’ve never really gone back to the beginning and told my story, the story of me being 12 stones and my journey till now. This starts when I was 17 and doing my A-Levels. All I seemed to do was eat while going through the exam period, study also of course! I spent part of my summer holidays in Canada where my uncle and aunt fed me nonstop! By the time I returned I had put on a stone, but I wasn’t a weight conscious girl and plus university was about to start and I was far too excited about this new experience to care about this additional stone I had gained.

When I got to university, I gained 2 more stones in my first year, and I never even noticed the pounds pile on. It was only until I went shopping in the summer holidays and wasn’t fitting into size 14 jeans that I realised I had to do something! My mum was also eager for me to lose weight, so she helped me. Every morning for 6 weeks I would go for a walk / jog and then do various resistance exercises using my body weight at home. It’s hard to believe now that I run 10 miles when 9 years ago i struggled to run 2 minutes! Exercise wasn’t the only change; I also focused on my eating! Simple changes like drinking 8 glasses of water today this alone resulted in losing half a stone. This I later learnt was due to water retention! I also cut back on eating bread, and began having brown bread instead of white bread. Breakfast was no longer fry ups, but porridge and grapefruit. I ensured I would eat plenty of fruit throughout the day, and avoided cakes and crisps. I found this extremely hard, as before this I would eat 4-5 cakes or bags a crisps a day, and never would I have drank a glass of water let alone 8! All these changes resulted in me losing a stone and half. This was my first step to changing my lifestyle. This is what weight loss is all about life style changes to a healthier lifestyle! I haven’t looked backed since.

I then went back to uni and although I wasn’t able to keep up with the exercise I was able to make healthier food options. This year ended with me gaining another half of stone!

The following year was my placement year, this year I joined the gym! My first ever gym membership! My parents thought I was wasting money and would never keep to going to the gym, but I really did prove them wrong. I went heads straight into visiting the gym 6 times a week, usually after work for an hour and half. The results I saw that year were amazing. I dropped from the size 12 I was to a 10-12. Buying my first pair of 10 jeans was amazing, I was over the moon. It was also the year I began to run, I did my first ever 5k which took me less than 40 mins and I was ecstatic, now I run 5ks in 25 mins and keep going! I learnt a lot about eating this year, especially herbal supplements. A weekly visit to Holland and Barrett’s was not unheard of for me.  I remember becoming addicted to humous and yeo valley fruit yogurt this period, and also began drinking green tea, which I still drink religiously.

My final year at uni was a different year, I had amazing praise about how good I looked and it made me feel so beautiful! I was now just under 10 stones, and it was great returning to uni after a year and unveiling the new me! I joined the uni gym and continued to exercise and was able to remain the size I started that year with.

So I left uni 5 years ago and in those 5 years my weight has fluctuated from 9.9lbs to 8.8lbs, but I believe my healthy weight is 9 stones. Weight isn’t the only change, I definitely have a different body, and I am more toned and fit than ever before. I have achieved completing 7 half marathons and two 10ks in these 5 years. For many years my focus was spinning classes, Kobo, box exercise and running, about 3 years back I stopped seeing results and become extremely frustrated with myself. A friend suggested I get a personal trainer which I did! I’ve never looked back, my personal trainer is amazing, and she has helped me achieve so much, including my PB time in the Windsor half. She has never given up on me and is constantly changing the workouts so I continue to see results and get fitter. The biggest change has been helping me gain confidence in using free weights! I no longer feel lost in the weights area or intimated being one of the few females there.

For those of you who aren’t seeing the results I would recommend getting a personal trainer! But find one that you will really get on with, and one that loves fitness themselves!

So this brings me to now, and who I’ve become. Not sure what the next few years will bring, I would love to take this passion a step further. My first step has been this blog; the next would be to run a full marathon; any runners dream!  And lastly I do play around with the idea of becoming personal trainer, but I’m scared of making this step!